New winglet technology added to 737 MAX design

New winglet design concept for the 737 MAX. Courtesy, Boeing

Boeing is incorporating a new winglet technology into the 737 MAX design that will further improve the aircraft’s fuel efficiency.

Boeing announced the development of its Advanced Technology winglet Wednesday and said it would give the MAX up to a 1.5% fuel-burn improvement over the 10-12% improvement that the MAX offers over current generation 737s.

"The concept is more efficient than any other wingtip device in the single-aisle market because the effective wing span increase is uniquely balanced between the upper and lower parts of the winglet," MAX chief project engineer Michael Teal said in a statement.

"We have assessed the risk and understand how to leverage this new technology on the MAX within our current schedule. This puts us on track to deliver substantial additional fuel savings to our customers in 2017," Teal said.

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